(CNN) – Rahm Emanuel left his post as White House Chief of Staff more than a year ago, but on Sunday the Chicago mayor waded back into presidential politics, saying his former boss’ reelection was far from a sure thing.

“There's no doubt there's a challenge politically because the economy is not where the American middle-class family needs it to be for their bottom line,” Emanuel said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”FULL POST

(CNN) -– House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Sunday that comments made by Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown about a Democratic rival showed a “disrespect for women.”

Brown made the remarks Thursday, when asked about candidate Elizabeth Warren’s statement that she had “kept her clothes on” while paying for college. Warren was making reference to a nearly nude 1982 Cosmopolitan magazine photo shoot that Brown did to earn money at age 22.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain defended his "9-9-9" tax reform plan Sunday, saying the plan is fair and would not cause people with limited financial resources to pay more in taxes than they do currently.

Cain's proposal to do away with the current tax code in favor of a 9% corporate tax rate, 9% individual tax rate, and new 9% national sales tax has become the policy centerpiece of his increasingly popular 2012 White House bid.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - Politicians fought Sunday to cast the ongoing Wall Street protests in very different light, with two GOP presidential candidates calling them "class warfare" as two prominent Democrats expressed support for the protesters' message.

"They want to be heard," said Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia. "And at the same time they want to speak to America, speak to people in power, to officials of the American government but also to the business community, especially Wall Street, to corporate America, to bankers. They're saying, in effect, that we bailed out Wall Street and now it's time for Wall Street and corporate America to help bail out the American people.

Washington (CNN) - A leading Republican on fiscal and economic issues said Sunday that, in the midst of rampant disagreement in Washington about how best to turn around the faltering economy, he thinks the White House, Democrats, and his party may be able to reach a compromise on corporate tax rates.

Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, noted that in a recent speech President Obama spotlighted business tax reform and passage of trade agreements as two areas where agreement might be reached and legislative action could be taken soon. "Great," he said. "We agree with those. Let's do those. We're bringing these trade agreements up next week in the House. I think we'll pass these things."

(CNN) - Presidential candidate Herman Cain said Sunday that he didn’t believe racism was a major factor holding minorities back in America, asserting instead that African Americans had a level playing field on which to advance economically.

“I don't believe racism in this country today holds anybody back in a big way,” Cain said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Are there some elements of racism? Yes. It gets back to if we don't grow this economy, that is a ripple effect for every economic level, and because blacks are more disproportionately unemployed, they get hit the worst when economic policies don't work. That's where it starts.”FULL POST

(CNN) - Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann dismissed the notion that her campaign was in trouble Sunday, saying she was still very much in the running to become the 2012 GOP presidential nominee.

“I think we are doing a good job getting our message out on job growth and on turning the economy around,” Bachmann said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “That's what we're working on. We're not focusing on the day-to-day. Because as you have seen with many of the other candidates, candidates go up, candidates go down and what we're very concerned about is making sure that the message gets out there, because it is not about any one of us, it is about turning the economy around and creating jobs.”FULL POST

(CNN) - Neither Herman Cain nor Rep. Michele Bachmann would say Sunday whether they believe Mitt Romney is a Christian, two days after an influential pastor labeled Mormonism a "cult."

"He's a Mormon," Cain said on CNN's "State of the Union." "That much I know. I am not going to do an analysis of Mormonism versus Christianity for the sake of answering that. I'm not getting into that."FULL POST